Essay: Exploring the Development and Growth of Sustainable Fashion

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This essay provides an overview of the growth of sustainable fashion, commonly known as ethical or eco-fashion, within the textile industry. It explores the use of sustainable materials, recycling processes, and the emergence of 'slow fashion' as key components of this trend. The essay discusses factors contributing to the development of sustainable fashion, including pollution concerns and the adoption of eco-friendly practices by major brands. It highlights innovations in textile recycling, the role of eco-labels, and the challenges and opportunities in making the fashion industry more sustainable. The essay concludes that the sustainable fashion trend is growing, driven by environmental concerns and the need for ethical practices, although the process of development is slow. It also highlights the role of major companies in the adoption of sustainable practices and the need for industry-wide change.
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GROWTH OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION
Growth of Sustainable Fashion
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1GROWTH OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION
Sustainable fashion most commonly known as ethical fashion or eco-fashion is a developing
trend in the fashion industry that promotes the use of sustainable materials. It is one of the most
discussed themes in the textile industry. Sustainable fashion consists of the most eco-friendly
ways in which a cloth or an accessory is manufactured. Processing the raw materials and taking
old garments and then recycling them into new ones are one of the most important parts of this
industry of sustainable fashion. There are various factors such as pollution from raw material that
gave rise to the sustainable fashion industry. This essay will look into the factors that contribute
to the development of sustainable fashion.
The use of the recycled cloths to produce a new garment is one of the ways that
sustainable industry is developing, this recycling process is also known as ‘slow-fashion’
(Pookulangara and Shephard 2013). The use of these recycled clothes gave rise to the industry of
sustainable fashion. The term ‘slow-fashion’ was coined by ecologist Kate Fletcher. The industry
of sustainable fashion grew in the years 1980-1990, this was a global revolution and it changed
the face of fashion (Henninger, Alevizou and Oates, 2016). Few of the most reputed companies
like Patagonia, ESPIRIT, were the first ones to introduce the idea of sustainable fashion in the
market and made it a business idea and started selling clothes under sustainable fashion
(Henninger, Alevizou and Oates, 2016). The seeds and crops that are genetically modified and
the chemical fertilizers that are used for increasing the production of cotton has an adverse effect
on the products and the profit margins also decrease. The textile brands that are bigger in
structure and size have always promoted the idea of sustainable fashion. The science of textile
recycling has been in use since a very long time but has been lost in the recent times because of
the other growing trends. The large consumption and the exploiting the raw materials has led to
the increase in the landfills and has increased the amount of waste generated. According to
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2GROWTH OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION
reports 90% of the raw materials have can derived from recycled goods and this can considerably
reduce the over the top use of raw material.
The innovations that are made in the sustainable fashion industry keep in mind the fact
that it is a business and that profit has to be generated from it. New innovations are being done in
this industry so that the products are high value equipped with sorting machines, design inputs
for the reduction of carbon footprints and the reduction of water footprint on the new production
of cloth. According to a report from the company H&M in the year of 2015, the use of
sustainable resources grew from 14% to 20% (Shen 2014). They have committed to the fact that
by the year 2020 they will produce 100% sustainable products (Shen 2014). In today’s society,
the fashion industry is one of the top polluters. The company Adidas has also been trying to
replace the non-sustainable products with the sustainable once. They are aiming to achieve 100%
sustainable cotton by the year 2018. The reports have shown that 25% of the world’s pesticides
are used for the production of non-organic cotton pesticide (Todeschini et al. 2017). A minimum
of 8000 chemicals are used to produce textiles that are derived from raw materials. Eco-labels or
energy efficient labels have tried to educate the common public about the ideas of eco-fashion
and sustainable designs. The cloths that are made from sustainable products are generally marked
with green labels.
With sustainable fashion, the fashion industry has the opportunity to make profits and
grow as an industry while being ethical and protecting the environment. The thing that they do is
to maintain a social ethical and environmental standard while working towards a sustainable
future. In order for it to work, the fashion industry has to produce products with the help of the
local players and taking things from the local market (Bedat 2016). The sustainable fashion will
also help the local markets increase their profit margins and help them do business along with the
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3GROWTH OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION
big fashion brands. There is a big challenge in making the fashion sustainable. The whole system
has to be rethought and change the way they view fashion. The methods to produce sustainable
fashions are slow as they are mostly traditional methods that produce this kind of fashion. The
slow production might harm the business but at least it will be saving the environment in the
long term.
This essay concludes that the idea of sustainable fashion will go a long way on keeping
the environment clean and pollution free bur the process of developing is slow, so it might harm
the business but major companies are adopting the trend. The trend of sustainable fashion started
because of the excessive pollution that is generated from the carbon footprints of the fashion
industry. Brands like H&M, Adidas, ESPIRIT are moving towards a more ecofriendly fashion.
This might encourage the others to also to follow and this will bring about the change in the
structure of the fashion industry. This means that the companies that are adopting the sustainable
lifestyle are moving a step forward towards a more sustainable life. This means that the in order
for the sustainable industry to work every company has to be adopt the ecofriendly fashion.
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References
Bedat, M. (2016). The High Cost of Our Cheap Fashion | Maxine Bédat | TEDxPiscataquaRiver.
[online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r8V4QWwxf0 [Accessed
14 Jun. 2019].
Pookulangara, S. and Shephard, A., 2013. Slow fashion movement: Understanding consumer
perceptions—An exploratory study. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 20(2), pp.200-
206.
Henninger, C.E., Alevizou, P.J. and Oates, C.J., 2016. What is sustainable fashion? Journal of
Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 20(4), pp.400-416.
Todeschini, B.V., Cortimiglia, M.N., Callegaro-de-Menezes, D. and Ghezzi, A., 2017.
Innovative and sustainable business models in the fashion industry: Entrepreneurial drivers,
opportunities, and challenges. Business Horizons, 60(6), pp.759-770.
Shen, B., 2014. Sustainable fashion supply chain: Lessons from H&M. Sustainability, 6(9),
pp.6236-6249.
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